Edward Larrabee Barnes would be celebrating his 100th birthday this month. This Barnes building, located at 121 S Main Street in Providence, RI was originally designed for the Old Stone Corporation. Today the commercial space is home to Hemenway's Restaurant and the remainder is increasingly used by various departments of Brown University.

Ah, a new year and a new blog post! Welcome, and I hope 2015 is off to a great start for everybody.

Compelled by the number of commercial roofs we have photographed in the past 12 months, somebody recently asked me if I specialized in "roof photography". While I do cherish my time spent on rooftops, and hope to shoot many more, I don't think narrowing our focus down to just roofs would be sustainable!

I'd like to share a project I very much enjoyed that has just wrapped up after a few months of work both planning and shooting.

In October of 2014 The Garland Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio, commissioned Design Imaging Studios to document three completed commercial roofing projects throughout the Northeast.

The first project was a building called The Playland Ice Casino, an ice rink located within Playland, a historic amusement park in Rye, New York. Built in 1927, the amusement park sits boldly along the Long Island Sound shores. The majestic rink, was added to the park years later. After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, damage to the roof required repair and The Garland Company was sought to provide a new durable metal roof. I found the result to be a perfect fit for the structure. And speaking as a former hockey player myself, the interior of the rink is powerful and beautiful. Standing on the ice, I could feel the history. The woven wooden arches provide a view that tops most rinks that I have skated in (and in 15 years of playing the sport, I have many rinks to compare).

The rink now plays host to many youth and high school hockey programs as well as the Manhattanville College hockey program.

The second location was in Leicester, Massachusetts at Becker College. The Garland Company provided the roof of the new campus center, a beautiful brick building with an adjacent tower and walkway connecting to the old campus center, and well-landscaped grounds. The stars aligned for this shoot, actually the building and sun aligned! The late autumn sunrise warmly lit the building's front.

Winter weather delayed the installation of the third and final roofing project on the list, a smaller section of roof at a New Hampshire high school. Again we were blessed with some great morning light, and access to the roof allowed for some more captivating views of the smaller project.

When the project was finished we received a wonderful review from our lovely client at The Garland Company. We are so lucky to work alongside kind and talented people and companies in this industry, and this project was no exception.

"We connected with Christian via Thumbtack.com and have been more than pleased with his professionalism, flexibility and quality of work. We hired Christian to photograph three buildings where our commercial roofing products were installed. We were continually impressed with images he produced and the considerable time and effort he took to provide us with a variety of angles. I would highly recommend Christian for any architectural photography needs you may have."

We are half-way through 2014, half-way through this amazing Summer season, and half-way through year one of Design Imaging Studios! The time is flying by between marketing, shooting, editing, editing, editing, editing... and networking, and it is very exciting to see the progress we are making. As a photographer, there is no better feeling than seeing images that you created put to use, whether online or in print. And already in the six months since I announced the launch of Design Imaging Studios our images have been used on business and editorial websites and local, regional and national publications online and in print.

As a small business owner, I welcome any opportunity to be published, whether it's small or large. Any chance to spread my name, my work and my company is a chance to attract a new client or business acquaintance. This publishing potential is not only important for myself, but an added benefit for anyone that invests in professional photography.

A perfect example of this can be seen in the latest issue of Cape Cod Home Magazine, a magazine covering home and design stories and professionals in Cape Cod and the Islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Back in the Spring, we were hired to photograph the interiors of The Captain David Kelley House in Centerville, MA. By creating those images, we were creating potential content. I wrote a story about the B & B and the lovely owners, and Cape Cod Home published a 10 page spread in the new Summer 2014 issue.

This took effort and time and some good fortune to make happen, but without the investment from the owners, I would have had nothing to submit. Between newsstand sales, app downloads, mailed subscriptions, and shared readership it is estimated that just under 100,000 people turn the pages of Cape Cod Home. Talk about great targeted publicity for a local business! I am immensely happy to have been able to make this happen for Rick and Tom at the B & B, they deserve it. And I owe a great deal of gratitude to Cape Cod Home for publishing the story.

Welcoming, cheerful, gracious and comedic: wonderful traits that immediately shine when you meet the owners of the Captain David Kelley House.

Tom Nortz and Rick Garceau are the proud caretakers of their "grand old lady", a historic home nestled in the small village of Centerville, in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Tom and Rick purchased the home in 2008 and have dedicated their time to restoring the structure and providing a charming escape for Cape Cod vacationers.

Rick, having a background as a graphic designer, put together the B&B's website and maintains it by keeping information up to date, and continuously working on search engine optimization. As they have put so much effort into restoring the home over the years, they felt it was the right time to invest in professional interior photography, and allow potential guests to properly view what they can enjoy.

So, on this crisp, bright blue day at the start of Spring, I had the opportunity to capture the home, focusing on the interiors, and we capped it off by sitting down for a lovely conversation about the home, their work and what they do to make guests' stays one-of-a-kind. Fortunately for me, I will be returning in the Summer to capture their dining porch, exteriors and breakfast creations... because they both make famously delicious scones!

Design Imaging Studios creates naturally beautiful photographs of interiors and architecture, a great investment for a bed and breakfast, inn, or hotel looking to give their website a boost and attract more guests. Unfortunately, so many B&Bs, inns, and hotels feel they can't afford photography, the up-front cost is too high, or they can't see the long term value in it. We work with individuals and businesses in many different situations, and strive to do everything we can to put quality photography in your hands and on your website. Give us a call today, we'd be happy to talk about your photography needs, and different ways we can help.

Design Imaging Studios, Inc. is a commercial photography studio in Providence, RI specializing in professional architectural photography and interior photography. Spending most of his time in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, photographer, Christian Scully, travels regularly throughout New England capturing beautiful architecture and interior design for marketing purposes and editorial publication. His work has represented talented architects and designers on hundreds of magazine pages of publications such as Southern New England Home, Home Remodeling, Commercial Architecture and Metal Architecture.